The U.S. Department of Energy on July 29 announced a landmark partnership with Kentucky public power utility Paducah Power System and other energy industry participants to redevelop portions of DOE’s Paducah Site into a data center campus accompanied by new affordable energy infrastructure.
Other participants include Brookfield, NextEra Energy, Big Rivers Electric Power Corporation and Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative.
“The more than $100 billion privately funded investment, one of the largest in Kentucky’s history, is expected to create approximately 8,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs,” DOE said.
Consistent with President Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, the project’s generation and storage capacity would exceed the campus’s energy needs, allowing excess electricity to be delivered to the regional grid, helping reduce energy costs for American families and businesses, DOE said.
At or near the Paducah campus, NextEra Energy plans to develop 2 gigawatts of new grid-connected natural gas-fired generation, upgrade existing transmission infrastructure, and deploy up to 2.6 GW of battery energy storage to support a new 1.8 GW artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) innovation campus.
The project advances DOE’s American Energy Hubs initiative, “which is transforming former DOE sites into engines of affordable energy production, advanced manufacturing, technological innovation, and economic growth,” DOE said.
Building on the partnership model announced at the Portsmouth Site, the Paducah partnership “demonstrates how federal, state, local, and private-sector collaboration can accelerate investment while delivering lasting benefits to surrounding communities.”
With existing transmission capacity, water infrastructure, fiber connectivity, and available land, the Paducah Site is uniquely positioned to support large-scale AI infrastructure and attract major private investment while continuing environmental cleanup and advancing the site’s long-term redevelopment, DOE said.
Following DOE’s Request for Offers issued in November 2025, Brookfield was selected to develop and operate the Paducah data center campus, while NextEra Energy was selected to build and own the dedicated energy infrastructure that will power the site.
Big Rivers Electric Power Corporation will provide wholesale electric service, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative will provide retail electric service, and Paducah Power System will serve as a community partner.
The power service agreement remains subject to approval by the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2031.
APPA, Public Power Utilities Sign Pledge
APPA and a large number of public power utilities recently the Ratepayer Protection Pledge.
Earlier this year, the White House hosted an event with seven major hyperscaler AI companies where they signed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge containing specific actions to help protect other electric ratepayers. To learn more about the pledge, see this White House fact sheet.
To learn more about what APPA is doing to advance affordability, see APPA's two-page Public Power Affordability Agenda fact sheet.
